This week, the International Olympic Committee’s 2026 Evaluation Commission has completed a week-long visit to Sweden to hear more about plans for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and visit the venues proposed in the Swedish bid.

After trips to Åre and Falun, and a whistle-stop tour of Stockholm, the IOC and Stockholm Åre 2026 representatives gathered in Sweden’s capital city for a seminar.

Among the speakers were the Swedish Minister of Culture and Sport, Amanda Lind, and the Mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr. Both expressed their support for the bid.

“If Sweden would be given the honour of organising the Games, it would be a great success,” said Lind.

The briefing session also featured presentations from the likes of Gunilla Lindberg, Member of IOC Executive Board and Secretary General of the Swedish Olympic Committee; Stockholm Åre 2026 CEO Richard Brisius; Swedish Olympic Committee President Mats Årjes and CEO Peter Reinebo; Johan Strid, General Secretary of the Swedish Paralympic Committee; and Ericsson’s Olle Isaksson.

For the first time, the opening part of the seminar was open to media – and reporters crowded in to hear more about Sweden’s plans for the 2026 Games.

The Stockholm Åre 2026 bid outlines a plan to host the most sustainable Olympic Games in history – delivering not just a climate-neutral event, but a climate-positive one.

When the IOC visited Falun on Thursday, Octavian Morariu, Head of the Evaluation Commission for 2026, praised the bid for it’s ‘flexibility and sustinabiality’ – and said that the spread of venues across four sites fits perfectly underneath the umbrella of Agenda 2020, the IOC’s sustainability initiative.

“We have already had this challenge of distance in the past, in both Turin and Vancouver, and those Games were great. It’s not a big issue,” he said.

“We’re happy that almost 80 percent of the [Stockholm Åre 2026] venues are existing, or temporary ones, and this is an explanation for the distance. I think that, when balanced, the outcome of this is really positive.”

The visit will officially end in Stockholm with a press conference on Saturday, before the Evaluation Commission heads to Italy to undergo the same process with the Milan/Cortina bid in a couple of weeks time.

This week, the International Olympic Committee’s 2026 Evaluation Commission has completed a week-long visit to Sweden to hear more about plans for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and visit the venues proposed in the Swedish bid.

After trips to Åre and Falun, and a whistle-stop tour of Stockholm, the IOC and Stockholm Åre 2026 representatives gathered in Sweden’s capital city for a seminar.

Among the speakers were the Swedish Minister of Culture and Sport, Amanda Lind, and the Mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr. Both expressed their support for the bid.

“If Sweden would be given the honour of organising the Games, it would be a great success,” said Lind.

The briefing session also featured presentations from the likes of Gunilla Lindberg, Member of IOC Executive Board and Secretary General of the Swedish Olympic Committee; Stockholm Åre 2026 CEO Richard Brisius; Swedish Olympic Committee President Mats Årjes and CEO Peter Reinebo; Johan Strid, General Secretary of the Swedish Paralympic Committee; and Ericsson’s Olle Isaksson.

For the first time, the opening part of the seminar was open to media – and reporters crowded in to hear more about Sweden’s plans for the 2026 Games.

The Stockholm Åre 2026 bid outlines a plan to host the most sustainable Olympic Games in history – delivering not just a climate-neutral event, but a climate-positive one.

When the IOC visited Falun on Thursday, Octavian Morariu, Head of the Evaluation Commission for 2026, praised the bid for it’s ‘flexibility and sustinabiality’ – and said that the spread of venues across four sites fits perfectly underneath the umbrella of Agenda 2020, the IOC’s sustainability initiative.

“We have already had this challenge of distance in the past, in both Turin and Vancouver, and those Games were great. It’s not a big issue,” he said.

“We’re happy that almost 80 percent of the [Stockholm Åre 2026] venues are existing, or temporary ones, and this is an explanation for the distance. I think that, when balanced, the outcome of this is really positive.”

The visit will officially end in Stockholm with a press conference on Saturday, before the Evaluation Commission heads to Italy to undergo the same process with the Milan/Cortina bid in a couple of weeks time.